Apparatus and methods for monitoring one or more portable data terminals

• US 9,047,359 B2
• Filed: 02/01/2007
• Issued: 06/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hand Held Products Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hand Held Products Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: French, Daniel Brant, Hinson, Douglas M., Kosecki, James C., Mangicaro, David, Reynolds, Scott, Yeakley, Daniel Duane, Caballero, Aldo M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Savusdiphol, Paultep
• Application Number:
  US11/669,987
• Publication Number:
  US 20080185432A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,043 Days
• Field of Search: 235/435, 235/438, 235/462.43, 235/462.45, 235/462.46, 702 33- 35, 702/127, 702/187
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0742 in a data processing system embedded in a mobile device, e.g. mobile phones, handheld devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0766 Error or fault reporting or storing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3013 where the computing system is an embedded system, i.e. a combination of hardware and software dedicated to perform a certain function in mobile devices, printers, automotive or aircraft systems testing or monitoring of control systems or parts thereof G05B23/02
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3058 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring environmental properties or parameters of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring of power, currents, temperature, humidity, position, vibrations thermal management in cooling arrangements of a computing system G06F1/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3093 Configuration details thereof, e.g. installation, enabling, spatial arrangement of the probes

Abstract

A portable data terminal generally includes a housing supporting: a data collection device; a keypad; and a touch screen. One or more PDTs are provided with a monitoring system that records occurrences experienced by the portable data terminal. The record of occurrences may be analyzed to identify errors and/or failure prone parts of the PDT along with behaviors likely to lead to errors or failures. Additionally, the record of events may be analyzed to predict errors and/or failures for any given PDT.

Claims

1. A portable data terminal system comprising:

a portable data terminal, the portable data terminal comprising;

a housing;

a data collection device supported by the housing for reading at least one selected from a list comprising;

bar codes, RF encoded data from a passive RFID tag, and data from a card;

a keypad supported by the housing;

a touch screen supported by the housing; and

a monitoring system, the monitoring system comprising;

at least one auxiliary processor in communication with at least one sensor of the portable data terminal; and

monitoring software that monitors, using the at least one auxiliary processor, occurrences experienced by the portable data terminal, and records occurrence data that is data other than data collected by the data collection device and that describes the monitored occurrences experienced by the portable data terminal, the monitored occurrences comprising software occurrences and physical occurrences, wherein the software occurrences comprise software messages comprising operating system (OS) events, and wherein the physical occurrences comprise external or internal forces applied to the portable data terminal and monitored by the at least one sensor of the portable data terminal, the monitored occurrences include the following;

moisture, level of ambient light, touch screen usage, battery usage, number of scans, number of times docked, key presses, and trigger usage.

2. A portable data terminal system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the monitoring system summarizes the occurrences.

3. A portable data terminal system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the occurrence data comprises a list of events generated by a component of the portable data terminal based upon the occurrences.

4. A portable data terminal system as set forth in claim 3, wherein the monitoring software is executed by a main processor which is other than the at least one auxiliary processor.

5. A portable data terminal system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the occurrence data comprises a list of occurrences that have associated values that exceed user defined threshold for that occurrence.

6. A portable data terminal system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the occurrence data comprises a list of changes over time in values associated with occurrences.

7. A portable data terminal system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the portable data terminal further comprises:

a main processor that operates in accordance with the operating system; and

wherein the at least one auxiliary processor controls predefined functions within the portable data terminal.

8. A portable data terminal system as set forth in claim 7, wherein the monitoring system is executed by one or more auxiliary processors of the at least one auxiliary processor.

9. A portable data terminal system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the monitoring system records the occurrence data into a circular buffer.

10. A portable data terminal system as set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

a cradle that receives the housing and provides connectivity to a network;

software that initiates diagnostic test procedures run on components of the portable data terminal and used to derive an indication of the health of the portable data terminal when the housing is seated within the cradle;

wherein the monitoring software identifies occurrences associated with the test procedures.

11. A portable data terminal system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the portable data terminal system further comprises a computer, and wherein the monitoring system transfers occurrence data based on connectivity between the computer and the portable data terminal.

12. A portable data terminal system as set forth in claim 11, wherein the monitoring system transfers the occurrence data based on a time elapsed since last transfer.

13. A portable data terminal system as set forth in claim 12, wherein the monitoring system transfers occurrence data based upon a request from the computer.

14. A portable data terminal system as set forth in claim 11, wherein the computer analyzes occurrence data transferred from the portable data terminal to identify trends.

15. A portable data terminal system as set forth in claim 11, wherein the computer analyzes occurrence data transferred from the portable data terminal to identify the potential of a failure within the portable data terminal.

16. A portable data terminal system as set forth in claim 15, wherein the computer issues alerts based on identified potential failures.

17. A portable data terminal system as set forth in claim 16, wherein the alerts comprise at least one of an e-mail, a page, a fax, a message posted to a web site, and an automated telephone call.

18. A portable data terminal system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the portable data terminal system comprises a plurality of portable data terminals.

19. A portable data terminal system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the monitoring software is stored on a removable storage device that is executed upon insertion of the removable storage device into the housing.

20. A portable data terminal system comprising:

a portable data terminal comprising;

a hand held housing;

a data collection device supported by the housing for reading at least one selected from a list comprising;

bar codes, RF encoded data from a passive RFID tag, and data from a card;

a keypad supported by the housing; and

a touch screen supported by the housing;

a cradle for receiving the portable data terminal; and

a testing system that initiates diagnostic tests on the portable data terminal when the portable terminal is seated in the cradle, wherein the tests comprise application of test data input to the portable data terminal or sub-system thereof, and collection of result data regarding reaction of the portable data terminal or sub-system thereof to the input test data to derive an indication of the health of the portable data terminal;

wherein the testing system records occurrence data that is data other than data collected by the data collection device, the occurrence data monitored using at least one auxiliary processor of the portable data terminal, and the occurrence data describing monitored occurrences experienced by the portable data terminal, the monitored occurrences comprising software occurrences and physical occurrences, wherein the software occurrences comprise software messages comprising operating system (OS) events, and wherein the physical occurrences comprise external or internal forces applied to the portable data terminal and monitored by at least one sensor of the portable data terminal, the monitored occurrences include the following;

moisture, level of ambient light, touch screen usage, battery usage, number of scans, number of times docked, key presses, and trigger usage.